I Come now to the Pyrates that have rose since the Peace of _Utrecht_; in War Time there is no room for any, because all those of a roving advent'rous Disposition find Employment in Privateers, so there is no Opportunity for Pyrates; like our Mobs in London, when they come to any Height, our Superiors order out the Train Bands, and when once they are raised, the others are suppressed of Course; I take the Reason of it to be, that the Mob go into the tame Army, and immediately from notorious Breakers of the Peace, become, by being put into order, solemn Preservers of it. And should our Legislators put some of the Pyrates into Authority, it would not only lessen their Number, but, I imagine, set them upon the rest, and they would be the likeliest People to find them out, according to the Proverb, _set a Thief to catch a Thief._ To bring this about, there needs no other Encouragement, but to give all the Effects taken aboard a Pyrate Vessel to the Captors; for in Case of Plunder and Gain, they like it as well from Friends, as Enemies, but are not fond, as Things are carry'd, _of ruining poor Fellowes_, say the _Creoleans, with no Advantage to themselves._ The Multitude of Men and Vessels, employ'd this Way, in Time of War, in the _West-Indies_, is another Reason, for the Number of Pyrates in a Time of Peace: This cannot be supposed to be a Reflection on any of our _American_ Governments, much less on the King himself, by whose Authority such Commissions are granted, because of the Reasonableness, and absolute Necessity, there is for the doing of it; yet the Observation is just, for so many idle People employing themselves in Privateers, for the sake of Plunder and Riches, which they always spend as fast as they get, that when the War is over, and they can have no farther Business in the Way of Life they have been used to, they too readily engage in Acts of Pyracy, which being but the same Practice without a Commission, they make very little Distinction betwixt the Lawfulness of one, and the Unlawfulness of the other. I have not enquired so far back, as to know the Original of this Rover, but I believe he and his Gang, were some Privateer's Men belonging to the Island of _Jamaica_, in the preceeding War; his Story is but short, for his Reign was so; an End having been put to his Adventures in good Time, when he was growing strong and formidable. We find him Commander of a Pyrate Sloop of eight Guns, and 80 Men, in the Month of _September_, 1716, cruising off _Jamaica_, _Cuba_, _&c._ about which Time he took the _Berkley_ Galley, Captain _Saunders_, and plundered him of 1000 _l._ in Money, and afterwards met with a Sloop call'd the _King Solomon_, from whom he took some Money, and Provisions, besides Goods, to a good Value.